I believe the most important takeaway was learning how databases work, from figuring out what requirements a particular database might need to implementing a schema. Most of us deal with sort of database every day, so as MIS students, it is very important for us to understand the “behind the scenes.” I also really enjoyed learning the basics on…[Read more]

I’ve come to realize that some families opt out of celebrating thanksgiving, so an interesting Thanksgiving-related question that can be answered by clustering is “which culture/ethnicity celebrates Thanksgiving ‘the most’?” The data to be collected includes the family’s background (which country/countries do the family’s ancestors come from?),…[Read more]

A decision tree can help answer the question “should a business outsource its tech support?” The data that needs to be collected includes number of support tickets generated per month, whether issue requires remote or in-person support, and length it takes for IT team to solve issue. A business that has a large number of tickets that require…[Read more]

A data cube for a national drugstore chain that has location, time (month), and product as dimensions and number of sales as the measured fact can answer the business question “which store location sold the most Allegra (allergy medicine) in April?”. Knowing which locations are most affected by “allergy season” (as measured by sales of allergy…[Read more]

One type of data discrepancy that might occur for companies that operate in more than one country is that of numeric value format. The default format in the U.S. is 1,000.00 (the comma separates the thousand while the period separates the decimal). However, in other countries, the numbers are formatted the opposite way — first comes the period…[Read more]

I like this infographic because the dark background color makes the illustrations’ colors pop. The circle graphs seem to be proportionate and they have icons in the middle, which helps visualize what each represents. “The pathway” section…[Read more]

Figuring out the correct cardinality between two entities was a big challenge. I also found it difficult to identify when an attribute should be attached to a relationship, instead of to one of the entities. My advice to dealing with this would be to first identify all entities and its attributes, and then figure out how they interact between each…[Read more]

The app ‘MyFitnessPal’ takes my raw steps data, which is gathered by my phone, and turns that into information about how many calories I have spent that day. This information is useful to me because it gives me an idea of how many “spare calories” I have and I can adjust my diet accordingly.

1.
– Combining and merging disparate data sets is challenging — and its even more so in this huge scale.
– It is expected that complications will arise that will need fixing. This evident by the amount of time (half-year) that Ms. Tolliver spent on “cleaning up” after the implementation.
– It takes time to train employees and even longer for…[Read more]

– TRANSPORTATION: IT makes it possible to track fleets and plan their routes more efficiently, in a way that carbon emissions are reduced.
– PAPER PROCESSING: having bills and other documents available online eliminates tons and tons of paper.
– PURCHASING: IT makes it possible for companies to choose from a larger pool of suppliers, which allow…[Read more]

Amazon has been called the “Walmart of the internet” for good reason. The company is able to offer same-day or next-day delivery to its prime customers at the expense of under-paid workers across their supply chain — from warehouse employees to “last-mile drivers.” This problem could be solved if Amazon were to pressure delivery service…[Read more]

– A CIO’s duties are ever-evolving and overlap with many business functions
– Melanie’s position is extremely demanding and she has a lot on her hands
– She enforces the importance of collaboration and transparency across the company

HULU CASE
– Digital channels have greatly disrupted the creative industry, forcing traditional distributors and broadcasters to create an online presence
– Advertisers must be more creative since people no longer sit through long ads to watch their favorite movies and tv shows
LECTURE
– Procurement is a process (series of steps) that is…[Read more]

– Beer Game: good and constant communication and up-to-date information is vital for the functioning of the supply chain. It was very challenging to coordinate our actions due to the delay in information and shipping. This was a great way to have a “hands-on” experience with the difficulties caused by the bullwhip effect and understand better how…[Read more]

Advantages:
– Convenience for customers
– Efficiency for firms
– Reduced costs as result of less shrinkage
– Better and more accurate data available throughout supply chain
Pitfalls:
– Possibility of scanning issues
– Possibility of unauthorized reading and/or hacking of information
– Can be costly to purchase and implement

1. I would not have a problem shopping in a store like this because of privacy concerns — grocery stores already track our purchases every time we use a discount card or loyalty program. My discomfort would come more from supporting a business model that will extinguish the jobs of millions of people. And although this argument has been made time…[Read more]

The Kiva robots provide:
– Increased speed/efficiency — no bottlenecks and robots are able to find and transport items through the warehouse much faster
– Much higher productivity and safety — robots almost never make mistakes or accidents
– Great increase in inventory accuracy and defect rate reduced to 0%
– Zappos was able to adapt pods…[Read more]